The Vancouver Canucks extended not only J.T. Miller on Friday, but their window to be a competitive team as well.
Miller and the Canucks agreed to a seven-year extension that will kick in following the 2022-2023 campaign. The deal will pay him $8 million per year, and it prevents him from becoming a free agent next summer.
The 29-year-old has spent his last three seasons with the Canucks and has been an unstoppable force for the team since he arrived. In the 2019-2020 season, he tallied career-highs in all offensive categories with 27 goals, 45 assists, and 72 points.
While that year was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, Miller helped the Canucks reach the postseason for the first time since 2015. They won in both the Qualifying Round and the First Round before losing to the Vegas Golden Knights.
J.T. Miller will be staying with the Canucks.
Last season, he took those career-highs from his first year in Vancouver and completely annihilated them. In 80 games last year, Miller racked up 32 goals and 67 assists for 99 points and a plus-15 rating.
Without question, Miller is a player that the Canucks desperately need back. His 99 points were not enough to get his club into the playoffs last year, but with him in the mix, Vancouver has the potential to qualify moving forward.
Had Miller been traded rather than extended, the Canucks might have soon found themselves in San Jose Sharks territory at the bottom of the Pacific Division.
Instead, this new contract opens the door for the Canucks to return to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, whether it’s this year, or in the future. The team needs more from players like Brock Boeser, who is coming off of his most disappointing NHL season, but again, the potential is there.
Miller joins defensemen Quinn Hughes and Oliver Ekman-Larsson as players that are under contract for at least the next five years, making this a deal that helps establish a direction for Vancouver moving forward.
The next step will be to lock up the team’s young stars, but for now, extending J.T. Miller has laid the groundwork for that to happen. He alone cannot guide the Canucks to a Stanley Cup championship, but his deal could be a building block for the roster that eventually gets there.